AFL 2022: Brisbane keen for tight contest against Western Bulldogs

As good as it was to thrash the Adelaide Crows, the Brisbane Lions are itching for a tougher test against the Western Bulldogs.

Brisbane star Harris Andrews gets a handball away in the Lions’ huge pre-season win over the Adelaide Crows. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Brisbane’s 89-point thumping of the Adelaide Crows has left the Lions hungry for a tougher challenge in Friday night’s AFL pre-season clash against the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.

The Lions were ruthless in wet conditions against the Crows at Metricon Stadium last Friday.

However, while delighted with the performance, the prospect of a harder contest against last year’s beaten grand finalists has been welcomed by Brisbane.

“It’s super important to really challenge yourself this time of year,” star Lions defender Harris Andrews said.

“Being able to test things that we’ve worked on over the summer against really quality opposition, and get feedback on that and see how it’s working and what we need to continue to improve on over the next couple of weeks as we make our way towards the actual start of the season, it’s a really great opportunity.

“It might be a little bit more heated (than it was against the Crows), but hopefully a little bit of a closer contest.”

Harris Andrews shows his strength in the Lions’ thrashing of the Crows. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

It could not have been much closer on the scoreboard in the teams’ previous meeting, with the Bulldogs ending Brisbane’s 2021 season with a one-point semi-final win at the Gabba in September.

“We did a lot of reflecting at the end of last year and we talked about the one-point loss and how disappointing it was,” Andrew said.

“For us, it’s probably just a great opportunity (on Friday) night to put into action what we’ve worked on over the summer.

“It’s sort of convenient that our last game was against the Dogs and this one coming up this week is also against the Dogs.

“It’d be nice to get a win regardless of who we’re playing against, but I’m sure there’s a little bit of a fire in the belly for the boys, the way last season ended, losing to the Dogs.”

Motivating Harris is also a desire to improve on his form from last year.

Having achieved All-Australian selection in 2019 and 2020, the 25-year-old fullback was overlooked for last season’s all-star team.

“It’s just finding that balance between stopping my opponent and looking to help out guys elsewhere,” Andrews said.

“A couple of times last year opposition forwards were able to get on top of me and kick a few goals, and I probably lost a little bit of balance in that sense.

“There’s definitely been a few things that I’ve worked on over the last couple a couple of months in the pre-season.

“Making sure that I can contain my forward kicking goals and having influence is super important, but I’m not obviously going to try and go away from being able to make sure that I’m competing hard and assisting my teammates where I can.”

Originally published as AFL 2022: Brisbane keen for tight contest against Western Bulldogs